Minuet
by radiany
Summary: [for Pikachumaniac] Otogi Ryuuji and Kaiba Seto in all their imperfection, played out in six movements. [SetoRyuuji, starring classical music, intrusions, and the school piano]


**Dedication **Pikachumaniac

**Why **I recall, vaguely, that she likes the pairing. I kind of ran out of people to dedicate things to and decided to dedicate this ficlet to PM, mainly because she's a friend of a friend [the Mentos].

**Labels **shonen-ai; no explanations; sixth movements; imperfection; drama; OOC; drabble; oneshot; pg

**[beforehand]**

This is all just very strange. Soothing, maybe, but strange. The thoughts about "hands" are credited to, because they were inspired by, Vacuous Girl's "Ashes and Lizard Skin." A minuet is a slow dance pattern from the seventeenth century.

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**Minuet**

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**first: adagio con brio**

The weather forecast is predicted to be rainy tonight, but when Otogi opens the front door there is nothing but clear sky.

Typical.

The kitchen clock goes 'tick tock tick tock' and Otogi can't help but glance down at his watch. It blinks midnight.

A breath escapes him but goes unnoticed as he steps into the darkness, closing the door behind him. He makes sure it's locked, rattling the doorknob left, then right before letting it go with a sigh of satisfaction. Keys jangle in his coat pocket as he turns; his footsteps thud down the steps; the spring air is cold against his cheeks.

He looks up.

There is a full moon ahead. Aren't strange things supposed to happen on nights like these?

**second: allargando **

The moon is peeking through the music room window.

Otogi pulls back a loose strand of hair and his breathing echoes through the room as he makes his way to a weary, aged piano on the other side. The keys are cool under his fingers and he lets his hands rest against the wooden frame.

His skin looks tight and stretched and scaly, like lizard skin and he wonders why because doesn't he take such good care of his hands? His fingernails look chipped and broken in the moonlight, and he can't help but move them closer to his face in order to examine the damage.

Shadows move across his face as if they are swimming, and Otogi suddenly remembers that he'd forgotten to use lotion that morning.

**third: largo**

There's music flooding the room, but it sounds so very hollow.

His father once told him that if you didn't play with emotion, then everything was just empty noise. With that in mind, Otogi can't help it and he closes his eyes, allowing the notes to flow through his head as he listens.

His hands are moving over the piano and his mouth is parted in an oval; he breaths deeply, and his lips are cracked.

**fourth: ben marcato**

"When he wrote it, it was to resemble a painting of the night."

The voice is deep and icy, but it is soft. Otogi doesn't quite remember who it belongs to and he looks to his left.

Seto Kaiba is standing on the other side, his back is leaning against the closed door and Otogi is wondering why he didn't hear it open. He is wondering why Kaiba isn't asking him why he's in the school music room in the middle of the night or how he snuck in and Otogi is wondering why Kaiba's here in the first place.

The music continues to wash the walls, and Otogi is wondering if Kaiba can hear it too.

"It was to be the thoughts and feelings of night."

His fingers are still flying over the piano, but they're not hitting the keys.

**fifth: arpeggio**

There's music flooding the room, and it sounds so very wonderful.

Seto Kaiba sits at the piano and his hands are brushing over Otogi's as he plays. The notes come out slowly and lightly and Kaiba's slim fingers are stroking the keys almost lovingly. When Otogi looks over at him, the rhythm starts to speed up, like a river flowing in and over rocks, yet it's coming out in a pitter-patter.

Kaiba's fingers move higher and higher on the piano and his shoulder softens when it meets up with Otogi's. His hands look cold like ice; his fingers are almost skeletal in the moonlight; there's a faint scar on his left pinky and Otogi wonders where it came from.

Otogi hasn't bothered to remove his own hands. Kaiba brushes over his fingers once more and Otogi looks down.

They look flawless.

**sixth: andante**

"I can't play the piano."

Kaiba doesn't say anything – doesn't volunteer to teach him, doesn't ask him why. Instead, he regards Otogi with a melting stare.

Otogi can't hold it and he turns away. Kaiba doesn't seem to move, but then there are cool breaths on the shell of his ear.

"It's raining."

Otogi thinks that he's smiling.

So it was.

**fin.**

**[afterward]**

Finished June 25th, 2004.

Written and modified in 51 minutes.

686 words.

The pieces that were mentioned in this ficlet are "Nocturne" by Chopin, thought out by Otogi, and "Berceuse" by Chopin and played out by Kaiba, respectively. The movement names are all music terms [in order], though I'm not sure if I wrote them correctly…: [1] slow or at leisure but with vigor, spirit and force, [2] a slackening of tempo, [3] slow or broad, [4] accented strongly and distinctly, [5] playing the notes of a chord separately, or harp-like, [6] slow, graceful, or walking.

Otogi letting his hands dance across the piano but not hitting the keys is from the movie "The Pianist."

**endlog[10:32 pm]**


End file.
